Next DEP secretary must be committed to environment

Donald Gilliland, The Patriot-News, 2010The choice of DEP secretary is important, especially because of the vigilance needed on the marcellus shale development.

Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s most important Cabinet appointment is undeniably budget secretary, but a close second is secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Pennsylvania is in the midst of a natural gas boom akin to the state’s former coal king days. The commonwealth has even been dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.”

The energy drilling industry is undoubtedly bringing money and jobs to the state and will only increase as drilling ramps up. The state has approved about 5,600 permits since 2005, with the majority of those done in the last two years.

Corbett is correct that the state does not want to stifle this industry (although we disagree with him that enacting a severance tax would do that), but at the same time, the Corbett administration has to prioritize the protection of Pennsylvanians.

Things do go awry in natural gas drilling, and when they do, there can be serious repercussions on public health and safety.

For evidence, go to Dimock Twp. in Susquehanna County. Residents there might be getting royalty checks, but they also have a contaminated water supply. While the contamination clearly shows a number of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, Cabot Oil & Gas, the main driller in that area, refuses to take responsibility.

What happened in Dimock will likely occur elsewhere. Those of us living here in central Pennsylvania might be far from the drilling, but our water supply could become tainted if tributaries to the Susquehanna River are polluted with untreated frackwater.
DEP must maintain its oversight role of this industry to the same — or even better — standards that are already in place.

Water safety is just a piece of it. The next DEP secretary will be tasked with dealing with growing issues over what to do about pipeline placement and oversight and whether to grant companies eminent domain rights to drill or run pipelines under properties whose owners do not consent.

To appoint someone from industry to the state’s top DEP post would be a huge error. It would not signal that the state is “open for business”; it would signal that we are “open for the taking.”

Already Corbett has faced substantial criticism for his appointments to his Energy & Environmental Transition team. Of the 30 members, 17 are executives or lobbyists from the oil and gas, coal, waste and utility industries. Some are even connected to companies such as Cabot that have pending DEP cases.

In an ideal world, DEP would balance the needs of industry and the environment and safety. Businesses deserve a reasonable permitting process, but DEP must take aggressive corrective action when necessary. It’s hard to imagine someone with a heavy industry background being able to strike the appropriate balance.

Corbett’s transition team is clearly weighted toward industry. On top of that, Corbett accepted close to $1 million in campaign contributions directly from companies with interests in the Marcellus Shale region.

Some believe Corbett will favor the industry because of the financial backing he received. We hope he proves the naysayers wrong and does the right thing for Pennsylvania by appointing a DEP secretary with a solid track record and commitment to the environment and basic regulatory protections.